Talk:Lady Tsetse/@comment-33299106-20190719165538
Golden Orb spent most of the day swimming in the ocean to search for interesting shells, making things with her gold tinted silk, and reading some of the books that her parents had brought with them when they escaped. They had brought several things that they thought they would need when they left to live in the savanna. Termite and Gypsy met when they were both 6 years old. Termite had a big family growing up. By the time he had hatched he had five older siblings, two of which were grown and had moved out of the house, and two more siblings on the way. His house was loud and cluttered which made it hard for him to concentrate on his schoolwork and reading. So he would often sneak out of the house and go to one of the gardens in the Tsetse Hive. I was much quieter and very calming for him. It was in one of the gardens that he met Gypsy. Once she got her wings, Gypsy was assigned to work in both the decorative and agricultural gardens. She would work long hours tending to the plants, making sure that they were watered, they were being weeded, and that the crops were being picked. She would work alongside other SilkWings and HiveWings in the agricultural gardens but the decorative gardens were tended solely by SilkWings. Termite was curled up in a bush with his nose in a book, when Gypsy pulled aside the branches to see whose tail was sticking out of the bush. Gypsy had been very apologetic about disturbing him and tried to leave but Termite was quick to get up and assure her that it was perfectly fine. They started talking about themselves and hit it off. Soon they were meeting up almost everyday in the decorative gardens to talk. Their meetups revolved around Gypsy’s schedule since she rarely worked in the same garden for two days in a row. They knew that if they were discovered, they would be severely punished. Termite more so that Gypsy. If they were to be discovered, Gypsy would probably be killed immediately and Termite might be put into the Hive mind state, never to be himself again. But Termite wasn’t like other HiveWings. He was immune to Queen Wasp’s Hive mind. He found out when he was five when he had been in his school’s library. His favorite spot in the library was a small platform in the corner of the roof behind the silk tapestry that covered the entire ceiling. It was said that a team of 100 SilkWings had collaborated to make a tapestry that depicted a map of Pantala. The tapestry was actually too big so the sides of it extended down the walls. Termite had discovered that in the northwest corner of the library, there was a platform just big enough for him to lie down on hidden behind the tapestry. He had been there reading a book about the flora and fauna of Pantala when the soft chatter of dragons below went silent except for the sudden crash of books falling to the ground. When he peeked through a small tear in the tapestry, he saw that all the HiveWings were frozen solid. They suddenly all snapped to attention in unison. ' “Where are you you traitorous snake?” they all said in an eerie cadence. Termite had been terrified seeing his fellow schoolmates and his teachers act in such a scary way. The mind control didn’t last long. They had scanned the room and were stepping towards the door when they all paused.' “Oh there you are. No escape for you.” After saying this, the blank look in their eyes faded and they returned to normal. All of the students were shaken and demanded answers from the teachers about what had happened to them. The teachers went through a very brief explanation of Queen Wasp’s Hive mind and what it meant and that they shouldn’t be worried about it. Termite left feeling rather shaken about what he had witnessed and why it hadn’t happened to him. There hadn’t been another situation like that since but it still resonated with him. Gypsy’s life growing up hadn’t been as chaotic but she had always resented the way HiveWings treated her and other SilkWings because SilkWings did so much for the HiveWings and they were taken for granted and abused for their services. But Gypsy was never one to complain much and kept quiet. But things were different when she met Termite. Here was someone, a HiveWing, who treated her like a dragon and was beautiful and valued. So it was no surprise when she began to fall in love with him. Termite wasn’t expecting to love Gypsy but she was funny and fascinating and a wonderful change of pace in comparison to his parents who had barely even noticed when his older sister, Ladybug, had taken his egg shortly after his mom had laid it and had hidden it in her room to play being a mom until he hatched. ' '''Their relationship continued for three more months before they learned that Gypsy was going to be paired with another SilkWing. Gypsy knew him from school and hated him because he would bully her all the time. So to avoid Gypsy being put into an abusive marriage and to avoid them being discovered, they hatched a plan to escape from the Tsetse Hive. They spent a couple days trying to figure out where they should go when they left the Hive and decided to go to Pantala’s nothern coast. Over the next two weeks, the couple secrets packed things they would need. Gypsy stole many seeds from the storage rooms of the agricultural gardens while Termite bought several different books on the savanna, gardening, and how-to’s on several different things. Once they had everything they needed, they left their homes, met up at a northern exit of the Hive, and fled in the middle of the night. Termite left a note for his family saying that he was leaving with the love of his life and would not be coming back. ' 'They spent the rest of the night and early morning, flying along the coast looking for the perfect place to live. They eventually found a cave, whose entrance was blocked from view by grasses and a dune. They quickly settled into a routine of staying inside for most of the day and emerging early in the morning or late at night for food. About a year after they escaped, they had their daughter Golden Orb. Golden Orb knew that her life was perilous but she still loved it. Her parents were the most wonderful people and cared for her dearly. That was why they had sacrificed themselves for her. ' 'When Golden Orb was about five and a half, her parents went out without her. Usually, she would go out with her parents but she had been really tired last night and her parents had apparently decided to let her sleep in. She woke up to the sound of screams of fear and desperation. Golden Orb ran outside and saw her parents fighting with a group of eight HiveWing guards. ' '''“Why are you doing this Horse-fly?!” her father screamed desperately at a black HiveWing with wings that were such a pale shade of yellow that they almost looked white. “You betrayed our family and our tribe you dirty SilkWing-loving scum!” the black HiveWing spat. “I’m ashamed that you’re my brother.” He lunged forward and savagely bit Termite in the shoulder. Termite let out an agonized cry and fell to the ground. Gypsy webbed up a couple HiveWings’ wings who also fell to the ground. Another HiveWing slipped up behind her and stabbed her claws into Gypsy’s shoulders and flung her to the ground. She crashed on top of Termite and the rest of the HiveWing guards instantly surrounded them. Termite got to his feet and bared his fangs. ' '“You’re not going anywhere,” Horse-fly snarled. “Seize them!” ' '''A bright orange HiveWing leapt forward, claw stingers extended. Termite grabbed his wrists and sank his teeth into both of his forearms before kicking him away with his back talons. The HiveWing’s arms began shaking wildly and when he tried to get up he kept falling over. Two other HiveWing guards pounced on top of Gypsy and pinned her down, shrieking. Hearing her screams, Termite turned around and tried to go to her but was pinned down by another two HiveWing guards. Horse-fly stepped forward and sneered down at them. ' '“You should have known that you would have eventually been caught.” he hissed. Horse-fly stepped towards the two guards wrapped in Gypsy’s silk and cut it off. ' '''“Transport the prisoners back to the Hive while I send a message to her Majesty that we’ve caught them.” The soldiers saluted him and lifted Termite and Gypsy up. The soldier that Termite had bit was still struggling to get up. Horse-fly paced over to him. “Get up, Cockroach.” he growled as he flung the soldier into the air. Cockroach flapped his wings hard to adjust and hovered in the air above Horse-fly. “Sorry sir, I was hard to get up because of the prisoner’s bites.” He flicked his tail at his still shaking arms. Horse-fly growled low and deep in his throat. “Let’s just go already.” He opened his wings and took off towards the Tsetse Hive. The soldiers followed, dragging Termite and Gypsy behind them. Golden Orb waited until they were a good distance away before following them. She had to make sure that her parents were going to be okay. Most entrances into the Hive were guarded, but she managed to slip in through a small window near the entrance that the guards had taken her parents through. They brought Termite and Gypsy to a large plaza, bustling with SilkWings and HiveWings. The crowd moved out of the guards’ way as they dragged Golden Orb’s parents to the middle of the plaza where there were several sets of chains. The guards locked the chains around Termite and Gypsy’s ankles and necks and then Horse-fly slipped away to inform the queen. The HiveWings and SilkWings who had all been passing through had all stopped and seemed to be holding their breath about what would happen next. Murmurs about them swirled through the crowd. ''' '''About an hour later, Queen Wasp, followed by several HiveWing guards, swept into the room. The HiveWings and SilkWings all bowed as soon as they saw her. When Queen Wasp saw Termite and Gypsy, a sinister light lit up in her eyes. Golden Orb shuddered and pressed herself further into the shadows on the tiny balcony she was standing on. “Finally, after all this time,” snarled Queen Wasp. “The two most wanted traitors from this Hive have been found. And I am not going to show the same mercy I would have if you had just turned yourself in.” “Mercy? You mean being enslaved under you tyrannical claws?” shouted Termite. “Escaping and living out in the savanna was better than sneaking around, constantly worried that we would be caught.” hissed Gypsy. Small, muffled gasps echoed through the otherwise quiet crowd. Queen Wasp growled and stepped forward menacingly. Termite and Gypsy didn’t even flinch but stood up straighter and stared down Wasp. “I’ve had enough of both of your insolent tongues. I’ll make sure that you never speak or disobey me again.” She suddenly leapt forward and ripped open Termite and Gypsy’s chests. Their screams vibrated through Golden Orb’s body. Wasp reached into both of their chest cavities and pulled out their hearts. Wasp threw them to the ground and stamped them into a bloody pulp. Termite and Gypsy collapsed onto the ground, gurgling for a few seconds before dying, facing each other. Queen Wasp shook the blood from her talons and stepped away from the bodies. “Let this be a warning of what happens to those who dare to break the laws of intertribal relationships! Now get back to work!!” she screamed. The crowd leapt to their feet and rushed out of the room. “Get this mess cleaned up.” Wasp snarled at the guards who had brought in Termite and Gypsy, before stalking out of the plaza followed by the guards who had come with her. Golden Orb was shaking as she left the Hive for home. She wasn’t even worried about being spotted. Perhaps dying would be better than having to live with the horrors of watching her parents die so horribly. She spent almost then entire day crying and mourning her parents. She didn’t eat for almost a week because she was so upset. She eventually snapped out of it, when she realized that her parents wouldn’t want this for her. They would want her to be happy and living well despite bad things happening to them. And so for five years, she kept pushing herself to work and live even though sometimes the grief of losing her parents made it hard to get up in the morning. Golden Orb set down the book she had been reading with a sigh. She couldn’t concentrate on reading when she started thinking about her parents. Maybe some weaving would distract her. She sat up and let silk spin out of her wrists. It was the color of the sun during sunset unlike her mother’s moon-colored silk. It reminded her slightly of something her mother had told about her once. Something called flamesilk which was flame colored and burned like fire. But even though her silk was a similar color to flamesilk, it did not burn whatsoever. She quickly got lost in weaving a small tapestry with small shells and stones tied into it. When she was done, she tied it off and hung it up against the wall with the other ones she had made. Weaving was her antidepressant and she had made many over the years since getting her silk. The rest of the day was mostly normal and Golden Orb settled in for another night of sleep. Sorry this chapter is so long, there was a lot that I wanted to talk about. This might be the last one as I don't have any ideas on where to take this story and I'm going to be really busy these next few weeks. I hoped you enjoyed Golden Orb's story!